He was describing a time when King Philip I of England led an English army into the field against the French in the late summer of 1557. Fortescue, arguably the most influential twentieth-century historian of the British army. ‘Never children crept more unwillingly to school than the English contingent which joined the Spaniards after the battle of St. The siege was tightened, and the town was overrun on 27 August 1557. King Philip’s army, along with the rest of the English troops, reached Saint-Quentin shortly afterwards on the 13th. The constable and with him the cream of the French nobility were captured. On St Lawrence’s Day, 10 August, the duke scored a stunning victory over the French constable, the Duke of Montmorency, as he was trying to relieve the town.
English sappers under military escort arrived ahead of the rest of the English troops to help in the siege. Meanwhile, an advance party under his cousin, the Duke of Savoy, had besieged the prosperous northern French town of Saint-Quentin. An army of 4,000 English foot soldiers, along with 1,000 cavalry, and over 1,500 military engineers and sappers went over to join him and the bulk of his army in what is today southern Belgium. In March 1557, King Philip I of England travelled to London to implore his wife, Mary Tudor, to support his war against France.
